Office workers may soon say goodbye to personal assigned workspaces as the trend becomes more popular.
CBRE, a commercial real estate firm, conducted a study and found that 52 percent of corporate executives expect to implement unassigned workstations within the next three years.
CBRE’s Dallas office started utilizing unassigned workstations when the group moved into new offices in 2010.
Managers said it brings a creative energy to the office and employees seem happy with the freedom.
“We coined a phrase called ‘accidental collaboration.’ When you see people around talking about ‘hey what do you see in the market?’ and it spawned some new ideas [and] new creative solutions for clients,” said Blair Oden, CBRE Senior Managing Director. “It’s a total game-changer for us in the market.”
The Dallas CBRE office is around 50 percent unassigned, but will likely go completely unassigned workspaces in the next five years.
Beyond the shared workstations, the office also has added amenities such as a catered café area and several patio areas where employees can gather and work. There is also ample “free range” office space for use.
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“If an employee comes in and on a particular day they need private workspace because they are negotiating a big deal or they have a long list of calls to make and they need privacy, they can reserve an office and they can use it for a day,” Oden said. “At the end of the day they will clear out and have it available for another employee on the next day.
While the trend is expected to grow, currently around three out of four companies still have assigned workspaces.
